The invention relates, generally, to amusement devices and, more particularly, to a play feature for a pinball game.
Pinball games, as is well known, consist, generally, of a slanted playfield and a plurality of diverse play features arranged on the playfield. A player uses flippers to direct a rolling pinball at desired ones of the play features thereby to score points.
The players if pinball games are selective as to the machines they choose to play and base their selections on the various types of play feature schemes offered. Therefore, the popularity of a manufacturer's line of pinball games resides in its ability to appeal to the players by offering new and different play features.
One known play feature consist of a wheel that rotates about a horizontal axis and has sockets for receiving a pinball. The play feature operates similarly to a ferris wheel in that the pinball enters one of the sockets at a first location on the playfield, the wheel rotates through approximately 180 degrees and the pinball is deposited back onto the playfield at a second location. While such a rotary play feature is entertaining, the movement of the pinball is limited to the 180 degrees of rotation of the single wheel.